No More Morning-After Eggs?

You’ve seen the movie. After a romantic night in bed, the hero seals the deal the next morning by making his lady love an omelet thrown together with whatever gourmet goodies he happens to have on hand, topped by two crisp strips of bacon if she’s a carnivore.

Except that, millennials are just as likely to be coming off a late shift and wanting breakfast in the middle of the night. Or putting in a hard night of work or partying and waking after noon looking for bacon.

The food industry says you’re eroding “daypart boundaries.” What that means is your desire for makin’ bacon all day, or demanding a burger at dawn, has the food industry freaking out a little. What do you mean you want an Egg McMuffin in the afternoon? Breakfast is over, pal!

Your lack of respect for “daypart boundaries” means that morning menus are mutating. All because of you, breakfast is starting to feature burgers topped with eggs, or salad and veggie breakfast items.

Restaurants have paid attention to the studies that show that starting your day—whenever you start your day—with high-quality proteins is the way to go. So, their morning offerings may still include bacon, ham, and sausage, but they’re adding beef, pork, shellfish, and poultry. Pulled pork offerings at breakfast are up 300 percent, prosciutto is up 159 percent, and lobster—for those who want to wake up feeling rich—is up 72 percent.

So, from those of us who want our morning-after pork pulled instead of fried…thank you for daring to break those daypart boundaries.